11.04.2008

Hello everyone. As you've noticed I'm sending this one out early. John has gallbladder surgery scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday. Usually I send out late on Monday night but wasn't sure if I'd be able to or not, so I thought better early than late. I can't tell you how happy I'll be to have the surgery over with. I am also anxious to think of having this election over with. I am worn and weary from political ads and stories. ~Toni
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~Cool Picks by Phyllis~

Well here we are with another issue of Toni's Newsletter, and here I am with another Cool Pick website! The site I'm sharing in this issue is
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/

This website is full of pictures of houses, shops, hospitals and amusement parks that have been abandoned. Check out the abandoned Hyatt Hotel in Florida...it looks like everyone just packed up and left one day. Most of the furniture is still there and the place still looks completely habitable. Another cool place is the abandoned Virginia Renaissance Faire Grounds. There is something spooky about the abandoned buildings that still have things left behind. The place seems almost haunted. You might find something cool in your own state, so take a tour of Abandoned But Not Forgotten!
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~Marie's Laughter~

A pregnant woman gets into a car accident and falls into a deep coma. Asleep for nearly six months, she wakes up and sees that she is no longer pregnant. Frantically, she asks the doctor about her baby. The doctor replies, "Ma'am, you had twins! A boy and a girl. The babies are fine. Your brother came in and named them." The woman thinks to herself, "Oh no, not my brother -- he's an idiot!" Expecting the worst, she asks the doctor, "Well, what's the girl's name?" "Denise," the doctor says. The new mother thinks, "Wow, that's not a bad name! Guess I was wrong about my brother. I like Denise!" Then she asks the doctor, "What's the boy's name?" The doctor replies, "DeNephew".
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Gas is $2.59 a gallon here. Wish the food prices would start coming down now too.
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I found two web sites that looked to have good information about Black Friday that I wanted to share with you. Now I know Black Friday is almost a whole month away, but things start getting hectic later in the month, so I thought I'd share the sites now so you could check them out at your leisure.

http://www.blackfriday.gottadeal.com/

http://bfads.net/
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Rosie has shared a delicious-sounding recipe with us:

Hi Toni,

I thought I'd share a favorite recipe of my kids ever since they were small and now that they're grown, they still request it as do my grandkids. When my son was small, he preferred having this instead of a birthday cake and still does to this day. This is SO simple but people will think you put a lot of effort into it. There won't be any leftovers!

Rosie

CHOCOLATE ECLAIR DESSERT
(make day/night before serving)

1 box graham crackers (I try to get the kind that isn't individual squares but it really doesn't matter)
2 boxes (regular size) French Vanilla INSTANT pudding (if you can't find French Vanilla, just use vanilla)
3 C. milk
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip or store brand of this
1 Can ready to spread chocolate frosting

1. Mix pudding mix with 3 C. milk. After this has been mixed in, blend in gently the Cool Whip by hand.
2. In 9x13 cake pan, place a layer of graham crackers. You may have to break off pieces in order to fill in corners.
3. Pour half of pudding mixture over graham crackers.
4. Place another layer of graham crackers, making sure to get into the corners and along sides totally. (sometimes I have to overlap crackers a bit to get this done)
5. Pour remaining pudding mixture over graham crackers
6. Frost with chocolate frosting. You may have to hold crackers in place when frosting.
7. Refrigerate overnight. Yummy!
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Sure do hope you're enjoying learning about all the different states. This week let's check out California:

California's Mount Whitney measures as the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Its most famous climb is Mount Whitney Trail to the 14,495 feet summit.

In 1925 a giant sequoia located in California's Kings Canyon National Park was named the nation's national Christmas tree. The tree is over 300 feet in height.

In the late 1850s, Kennedy Mine, located in Jackson, served as one of the richest gold mines in the world and the deepest mine in North America.

Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the largest county in the country.

Death Valley is recognized as the hottest, driest place in the United States. It isn't uncommon for the summer temperatures to reach more than 115 degrees.

The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902...

Inyo National Forest is home to the bristle cone pine, the oldest living species. Some of the gnarled trees are thought to be over 4,600 years old...

San Francisco Bay is considered the world's largest landlocked harbor.

Sequoia National Park contains the largest living tree. Its trunk is 102 feet in circumference.
One out of every eight United States residents lives in Califonia.

It is estimated there are approximately 500,000 detectable seismic tremors in California annually.

During his engagement at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito. While there he wrote his last song and greatest hit: "The Dock of the Bay."

The state motto is Eureka!, a Greek word translated "I have found it!" The motto was adopted in 1849 and alludes to the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada.

There are more than 300,000 tons of grapes grown in California annually...

California produces more than 17 million gallons of wine each year.

The redwood is the official state tree. Some of the giant redwoods in Sequoia National Park are more than 2,000 years old.

California holds two of the top ten most populous cities: Los Angeles and San Diego.

The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are within 100 miles of one another. Mount Whitney measures 14,495 feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.

Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In 1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville's first Artichoke Queen... She went on to become actress Marilyn Monroe.
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Hey Toni...Just thought you'd like to include a link to this article in your newsletter...I thought it was something that would be of interest to everyone...Phyllis
http://www.fitsugar.com/2339363
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The third degree, thanks to old Hollywood cops and robbers movies, is now synonymous with police interrogation with bright lights and rubber hoses and without the benefits of counsel. But where did this phrase come from? And what are the first two degrees?

The phrase comes from freemasonry, where a Third-Degree or Master Mason is the highest rank. From William Preston’s 1772 Illustrations of Masonry:

A charge, to be delivered at Initiation in the Third Degree.

To obtain the Third Degree of Freemasonry one must submit to ritual questioning. Some sources say the questioning is long and intense, others that it is a mere formality (not being a Mason I don’t know), but whichever is true, the idea that the Masons’ testing was an ordeal became fixed in the public mind.

From Jeremiah How’s 1865 Freemason’s Manual:

The Fellow-Craft who is duly qualified by time, on presenting himself as candidate for the third Degree, has to submit himself to an examination of his qualifications as a Craftsman.

Around the turn of the 20th century, the term third degree began to be applied to extralegal police interrogations. From Everybody’s Magazine of November 1900:

From time to time a prisoner...claims to have had the Third Degree administered to him.
The idea of a brutal interrogation being called the third degree was no doubt helped along by association with third-degree burn.

So, there really are no first or second degrees of police brutality.
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~Healthy Living By Phyllis~

I'm sure you've heard that its important to exercise...but have you ever wondered WHY its important? There are more benefits to exercising than just weight loss. Many doctors agree that regular exercise can reduce your risk of getting osteoporosis or breast cancer. If those aren't good enough reasons, how about this one...
Regular exercise will give you improved muscle tone. Since muscle is denser than fat, you can change the shape of your body. If you diet without exercising, you will lose muscle instead of fat. But if you exercise along with your diet, you will burn fat and build muscle. No, you won't bulk up like a body builder, but you will be firmer and smaller. Here's a link to show the difference between five pounds of fat and five pounds of muscle...
http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html
More muscle means you have increased metabolism, too! Some studies show that a pound of muscle can burn 35 to 50 calories a day, as opposed to a pound of fat which only burns around 3 calories a day.
(Source; http://www.actabit.com/weight-loss-tips/how-to-increase-metabolism )
So check with your doctor and find an exercise program that works for you. You'll be glad you did!
Next week I'll be back with tips on how to stay motivated in your exercise plan.
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I guess you've figured out by now that when I find an author I enjoy I tend to read that author till the library runs out of titles. So I am thinking you will not be surprised that my book this week is by Donna VanLiere! But this is not part of the series I was reading before... The title of this book is The Angels of Morgan Hill.

Jane Gable thinks 1947 will be like every other year in Morgan Hill, Tennessee, but it turns out to be the year everything changes. Jane first lays eyes on young Milo Turner the day that her abusive, alcoholic father is buried in the Morgan Hill cemetery. The Turners are the first black family ever to move into the area, and while their presence challenges the comfort of many in the small, tight-knit community, Jane and her brother, John, have found new friends.
Then tragedy strikes the Turner household, and the Gable family is asked to make a decision that could rip their world apart. One path might open up a whole new world and bring them closer than ever. Or it might bring them nothing but trouble and heartache. On the journey, Jane discovers that angels are all around us, every day, in the most extraordinary--and ordinary--ways.
The Angels of Morgan Hill is filled with unforgettable characters who show us the ways and means of the heart and prove that even in the darkest hours, we are never truly alone.
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I have found an amazing amount of good tips that involves salt. So many in fact, that salt tips are going to have to be a mini-series of 4 issues I think. So here you go:

Boiling Water - Salt added to water makes the water boil at a higher temperature, thus reducing cooking time. (It does not make the water boil faster.)

Peeling eggs - Boiling eggs in salted water will make eggs peel easily.

Poaching eggs - Poaching eggs over salted water helps set the egg whites.

Testing egg freshness - Place the egg in a cup of water to which two teaspoonfuls of salt has been added. A fresh egg sinks; a doubter will float.

Preventing browning - Apples, pears and potatoes dropped in cold, lightly salted water as they are peeled will retain their color.

Shelling pecans - Soaking pecans in salt water for several hours before shelling will make nut meats easier to remove.

Washing spinach - If spinach is washed in salted water, repeated cleanings will not be necessary.

Improving boiled potatoes - Boiled potatoes will be given a fine, mealy texture by sprinkling with salt after draining, then returning them to the pan and shaking them back and forth quickly to get rid of the excess moisture.

Cleaning stained cups - Rubbing with salt will remove stubborn tea or coffee stains from cups.

Cleaning refrigerators - Salt and soda water will clean and sweeten the inside of your refrigerator. It won't scratch enamel either.

Improving coffee - A pinch of salt in coffee will enhance the flavor and remove the bitterness of over-cooked coffee.

Cleaning copper pans - Remove stains on copper pans by salting area and scouring with a cloth soaked in vinegar.

Removing onion odors from hands - Rub fingers with salt moistened with vinegar.

"Sweetening" containers - Salt can "sweeten" and deodorize thermos bottles and jugs, decanters and other closed containers.

Cleaning sink drains - Pour a strong salt brine down the kitchen sink drain regularly to eliminate odors and keep grease from building up.

Brightening cutting boards - After washing them with soap and water, rub bread and cutting boards with a damp cloth dipped in salt; the boards will be lighter and brighter. There are antiseptic reasons to use salt as well.

Fixing oversalted soups - If soup has been oversalted, cut up a raw potato or two and drop into the soup. The potato will absorb the salt.

Preventing mold - To prevent mold on cheese, wrap it in a cloth dampened with saltwater before refrigerating.

Whipping cream and beating egg whites - By adding a pinch of salt, cream will whip better and egg whites will beat faster and higher.

Keeping milk fresh - Adding a pinch of salt to milk will keep it fresh longer.

Setting gelatin - To set gelatin salads and desserts quickly, place over ice that has been sprinkled with salt.
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So has it been a long time since high school and those timed typing tests? Do you ever wonder now if you're still getting the words per minute you did back then? Or if maybe you've improved over time? Then here's the place to take a speed test and satisfy your curiosity:
http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php
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Texas Tornado Cake

1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs (or the equvilant egg substitute)
2 cups fruit cocktail
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Grease and flour a 9X13 inch cake pan. Preheat oven to 325*.
2. Mix together sugar, eggs, fruit cocktail, soda and flour by hand with a large spoon. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Mix the brown sugar and nuts together, and sprinkle mixture onto the batter.
4. Bake for 40 minutes or until done.

-The egg substitute I use is called Better Than Eggs.
-I have used all sorts of canned fruit instead of the fruit cocktail. I've used pineapples, cherries, blueberries. I pour the can out into a 2 cup measure and if it's not quite to the 2 cup level I finish it off with a dab or two of applesause.
-I have been using one cup white flour and one cup wheat flour. I think it would be fine with all wheat.
-So far I've not had walnuts on hand so I've just used the brown sugar...